Lin introduces to CGTN reporter that his company is now focused on exporting to overseas markets, where demand remains high. /CGTN

"Face masks were a real lifeline at the time. And my job was to produce quality medical protective masks at all costs. That was my responsibility and duty," Lin Jinxiang, a private entrepreneur, recalled the most difficult times during the pandemic.

His company, located in Jiande city, East China's Zhejiang province, has been producing face masks for around 25 years. On January 21 last year, after China's top epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan confirmed that the new coronavirus discovered in Wuhan could be transmitted from person to person, Lin immediately held a meeting in his company and decided to produce mask supplies.

"All our employees were on holiday for the Spring Festival at that time. So I asked them to return to the factory for three times their usual salary," said Lin, adding he paid them that level of salary for two months.

When the epidemic began spreading across the country, only around 20 companies in China had the certification to produce medical protective masks and Lin's company is one of them. Lin's company becomes the first one in China to massively produce masks, with around 700 employees returning to the factory.

"We produced over 20 million medical protective masks in the first two months, which accounted for around 55 percent of the country's total demand, and around 98 percent of the demand in Zhejiang province," Lin told CGTN.